Planooraph co



W. P. SPARBOOM.

SIGNALING' SYSTEM.

APPLICATION man 1111123, 1914.

1,809,821. Pa1en1edJu1y15,1919.

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SIGNAUNG SYSTEM. APPLICATION FILED JULY 23| 1914.

1,309,821. Patented .my 15, 1919.

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THE COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH co., wAsmNGToN, D. c.

'UNITED strarns PATENT crimen.

WALTER P. SPARBQQM, OE"BQCHESITER,.NEWyYORK.

To all 'Lo/tom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WALTER P: Sr-ARBooM, of Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State of' New Ylork, haveinvented a new and usefullImprovementv in Signaling Systems, which improvement is fully set'A forth inthe following specification and shown'. in the accompanying drawings.

The present invention relates to a system of signalling for. maritime vessels or ships at sea andv to apparatus used in such a sys'- teni, an object 'of the invention being to makeit possible for maritimey vessels to communicate with each other [in such, a ymanner that it will; be possible to determine delinitely the directionl in which the vessels are going andy in this way eliminate most, ifnot all ofthe collisions at sea. Agnothery object of'the inventionA isto make a record off the signals given by each vessel` or ship so' that in case of accident the blame therefon can be properly placed upon the guiltyy or incompetentperson.

To these and other ends, the invention consists in certain parts andcombinations of parts all of which' will be. hereinafter described, the' novely features being pointedout in the appended.' claims.

In they drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan view of' thecornpass rose used' in the presentr invention and Figs. 1a, 1b, 1, and*` 1d are instruction charts which may be arranged on the bridge near the signaling devices; i e

Fig. Q is a detail view of the bridge of; a vessel showing the dilferent signaling.; devices employed.; n

Fig. 3 is a detail. sectional; view. through the recording mechanism.; y

Fig, 4L is a detailv View of" the printing mechanism; and' Fig, 5 is a. detail view offl the'r tape, on

which the record is made.

According to this invention, a plurality of! audible signaling devi-ces is, provided, each device giving a. sound dierent from the others.4 In this. instance, fourA of such devices indicated at 1y 2, 3. and 4 are provided, the devices 1 and 2y being in the forni lof' steam whistles of different sounds, one being a pipe whistle andthe other being a gong whistle both receiving steam by way of piping 5, and the devices 3. and 4 beingin the form of' horns of different sounds, lone being'a horn siren andthe other Specification of letters Patent.

PatentedfJuly 1.5, 1919.

Application led .T uly. 23, 1914'. Serial'N'o. 852,624'.

being' a shrilly siren also both operated by steam" from; the piping 5. The whistles 1 and Q may, havel disks 6' surrounding thei'n in order to confinel the sounds to the lower stra-ta of the atmosphere.

rllhese signaling devices areeach controlled separately by their owny operating mechanisms, each ofwhich may comprise a, cable 7 controllingthe supply ofl steam of the device and' connected to ay bell cranlr lever S pivotedf Ito a support 9 and; operated by a cable 10 which is connected to an operating member 11 in the .form of a foot, piece, this operating member *being normally held in a raised position by a spring 12'.

In order that signaling deviices may be used in connection with thepcolnpass, they are colored and the compass is divided up in a number of'fields corresponding to the number offsignaling devices and is also colcred' to correspond'. totheV colors ofthe signaling devices as :is shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings. It is preferred' .to provide four signaling de vicesand divide the compass into four, distinct fields, the dividing lines of'v these fields, extending. inthe directions ofthe main. points ofthe compass, namely: north, east south and .west as. indicated at 1;, 2a, 3f* and4 4?; The compass hasits main fields still' further dividedV las at 1b, 1F, 1d, 1, 2b, etc.,3", etc., and 4P, etc. Each ofthe subdivisions, 1gb, etc.,2b, etc., 3b, etc.,4l, etc., isprovided",withk certain indicating marks as djots and, dashes as at 13 which point out whether;- a long or short blast is to he given by the signaling device corresponding to the main eldofj the subdivision, These indicating .marks are similar on difl'jer'entk main fields'.v In fact,x eachV main field has indieating marks like the other main fields.V Of course, eachr mainl f eldniay. be divided into 21S, many Subfields as are. desirable it being preferred to have av srnally number in order that chancesfor confusion. are reduced to a minimum. Ata point adjacent to theV signalijng devices,l charts14, 15,16 and 17 will be provided, one for each signaling. device with suitable matter thereon to indicate the', signaling devicel which, it represents. These charts will` each haveV dots. and dashes thereon corresponding tothe dots anddashes on the subdivisions of the fields of the comp Arranged to be operated with each. signaling" device, is a recording mechanism. his

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mechanism may be ol any desired `form but preferably embodies a clock 18 which, by a shalit 19, drives the pinion 20, meshing with a pinion 21 which rotates the minute wheel 22 provided on its periphery with a number ot' print-ing characters corresponding to the number of minutes in an hour. At each rotation of this wheel, the hour wheel 23 is rot-ated one step in a manner known in this type of a machine and at each rotation of the hour wheel, the wheel 24 is rotated one step in the same manner. rlhe wheel 24 has characters 24a thereon indicating the days of the weeks and also whether the time is a. in. or p. m.

Arranged to travel over the printing wheels is a tape 30 which is fed from a spool 31 to a spool 32 by means of a gear wheel 33 which, by the gear wheel 100 mounted on a swinging arm 101 is adapted to be connected to a gear 102 which is driven in any suitable manner by a motor (not shown). Normally the gear 100 lies out of mesh with the gear 33 so that the tape does not move under normal conditions. 1t is, however, fed quickly during the printing by throwing the gear 100 into connection between the motor gear 102 and the gear 33 in a. manner to be described. Operating between the tape 30 and the time printing mechanism, is an inking ribbon 25 which is fed from a spool 26 onto a spool 27 by a gear 29 interposed between the gear 21 and a gear 28 connected to the spool 27.

For cooperation with the printing mechanism to effect the printing on the record tape 30, a platen 31 is provided arranged on a yielding arm 35 which is pivoted at 36, the platen held in the position shown by a spring 37 and being moved away from the printing mechanism by a latch 38, of well known construction in time recorders, arranged on a lever 39 which is pivoted at a0 within the casing of the recording mechanism and extends to the exterior et' the casing where it is connected to the cable 10 or one. of the signaling devices.

Then the lever 39 is depressed, the resilient connection or spring 50 transmits motion from an arm 45 on the lever to the swinging arm 101, thereby causing the gear 100 to establish driving connection between motor gear 102 and the tape or recording sheet so that the latter is operated quickly during the signaling operation. The spring 50 permits the lever 39 to continue its movement aft-er the connection between the gears 100 and 33 has been established. The depression otl the lever 39 also causes the lateral lpin or arm Ll5 thereon to bear on the cam portion L16 oi the scribing lever 17 to press the pointed end L18 of the lever 47 against the record tape 30 and inking ribbon 25; thus producing marks on the record tape 30 as indicated at 49 in Fig. 5, these marks being long or short and corresl'iondiug to the length of time during which the lever 39 is depressed.

Let it be assumed that it is desired to signal the direction of travel of a ship with one ot' these apparatus thereon. It' the ship be steering in the direction between NE. and ENE. the pipe whistle or signaling device 1 is operated, one long blast and two short blasts corresponding to the subdivision 1d, this operation being effected by depressing the treadle 11 of the signal 1. Vith the depression of this treadle, the lever 39 of the recording mechanism for such signaling device is depressed and, as a consequence, the tape feeding mechanism is operated and the platen or hammer 3a is moved away from the printing mechanism and then suddenly released to impinge upon the tape over the printing mechanism so as to cause the time at which the signal is given to be recorded on the tape 30. At the same time, the point 48 of the scribing lever 17 is moved toward the ribbon 25 and produces a line on the record tape 30 corresponding to the length of the time of the depression of the lever 39, this being due to the fact that the tape is moving under power from the motor wheel 102. In this instance, as the lever 39 is depressed, one long stroke and two short strokes, the record will appear as in Fig. 5. It will be apparent that, with a signaling system such as herein described, it will be possible Yfor ships to communicate with each other so as to define their courses of travel and in this way collisions due to fogs and darkness will be eliminated. Should the captain of a ship be careless or incompetent so as to cause a collision, he cannot escape responsibility as records of his signals with the time at which they were given will be kept automatically, this record, of course, being maintained under lock and key so as to prevent his changing the same. It is apparent also that the system may also be employed in aerial navigation.

1V hat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. `A signaling system employing a signal, and a recording mechanism comprising a time printing mechanism, a suitably driven tape on which said time printing n'lechanism operates, a device for marking on the tape lines corresponding in lengths to the durations of the signals, and means for operating the time printing mechanism simultaneously with each operation of such marking device to cause the printing device to Operate on the tape with said marking device.

2. In a signaling system, the combination of a signal, with a recording mechanism comprising a record time printing means for operating on said record operated with the signal, and means for marking on said record in lines of lengths corresponding to the duration of the signals.

8. In a signaling system, the combination of a signal with a recording mechanism comprising a record, clock operated printing wheels for coperation with said record to print the time of the signal, a platen for coperation with the printing Wheels, said platen being operated with the operation of the signal, and means for marking 0n the record in lines of lengths corresponding to the durations of the signals.

4. A signaling system comprising a signaling device, a time-controlled printing mechanism, a record tape, means for feeding said tape past the printing mechanism, an inking ribbon for the printing mechanism, a platen for coperation with the printing mechanism to cause the latter to print on the tape, and means for causing such coperation when the signaling device is operated.

WALTER P. SPARBOOM. Witnesses:

HAROLD H. SIMMS, ADA M. WHITMORE.

Copiesl of this patent mty bo obtained for ve cents keach, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washinrtcm D. C. V 

